Foglight 7.1.0 - Creating Actions Field Guide

Configuring Environment Variables

There are two environment variables that you need to ensure are configured as follows:

Creating the Directory Structure

Creating a directory structure involves extracting the contents of the ZIP file, Foglight_7.1.0_CreatingActionsFieldGuide.zip into a local directory. The following listing illustrates the directory structure that appears after extracting the contents of the ZIP file.

Configuring Build Properties

Configuring build properties ensures that the correct parameters are passed to the build process and that the resulting cartridge name and its version are properly set.

The build.properties file contains the following properties:

IMPORTANT: If you choose to modify this property to a different value, at a later step you will need to edit the names of the MBean interface and its implementation class (ExampleActionMBean.java and ExampleAction.java, respectively). This includes editing the file names as well as the interface/class names in ExampleActionMBean.java and ExampleAction.java, respectively. For additional information, see Defining Custom Actions .The file names use the following syntax in order to follow ANT conventions for using variables:${implementation_class}.java${interface}Bean.java

IMPORTANT: At a later step, you will need to ensure that the correct package name is used in the package declaration at the beginning of the MBean interface and its implementation (ExampleActionMBean.java and ExampleAction.java by default). For more information about changing the package name in those files, see Defining Custom Actions .

NOTE: This procedure continues from Creating the Directory Structure .

IMPORTANT: If you made changes to the package property, ensure that those changes are reflected in the directory structure. In the above example, modifying the entry com.sample.action to com.mycompany.myaction requires that you change the name of the sample directory to mycompany and the action directory to myaction.

IMPORTANT: It is recommended that you increase the version number each time you package a new version of the action. Doing so ensures that the previous version is updated when you create and install the later version of the cartridge containing the custom action.

TIP: Later on, you will need to ensure that the package name is also updated in the package declaration in the MBean interface and its implementation class. For more information, see Defining Custom Actions .

Defining Custom Actions

A Foglight® action is comprised of two major components:

These action-specific components need to be saved in the src directory, where package_name follows the package hierarchy that is reflected in the directory structure. For example:

com/mycompany/someaction/SomeActionMBean.java (MBean interface)

com/mycompany/someaction/SomeAction.java (MBean interface implementation)

To find out more about the contents and structure of your working directory, see Creating the Directory Structure .